2nd Imam- Hassan Mojtaba (PBUH)

SHAFAQNA-Among the many blessings associated with the month of Ramadan, is the auspicious date of the 15th Ramadan when Hazrat Imam Hasan Al-Mojtaba (A.S.), son of Imam Ali (A.S.) and Hazrat Fatima Zahra (A.S.), first grandson of Holy Prophet (SW), and the Leader of the youth of Paradise, was born in the holy city of Medina in third year after Hijrah.

Prophet’s Grandson in the Book and Sunnah

Imam Hasan (AS), the grandson of the Prophet of Allah (P.B.U.H), like the rest of Ahlul-Bayt (AS), enjoys a high position in the Book of Allah, the Most High, and the sunnah of His Messenger (P.B.U.H).

The Holy Qur’an, the constitution of the ummah, and Islam’s eternal miracle, has many verses which speak volumes of the position of Imam Hasan (AS), and Ahlul-Bayt in the sight of Allah, the Most High, and His Message, including:

1.The verse of Purification (Tathir):

“…Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you O people of the house! And to purify you a (thorough) purifying.”
Holy Qur’an (33:33)

It is reported that the reason the Verse of al-Tathir (purification) was revealed was that the Prophet (P.B.U.H) called for a Khaibari cloak (made in Khaibar), and covered Fatimah, Imams Ali, Hasan and Husayn (AS) with it, and said:

“O Lord! These are my family. So keep away uncleanness from them and purify them.” [5]
In response to the prayer of the Prophet (P.B.U.H), this ayah was revealed. It is a witness, given by Allah, in the Holy Qur’an, about the purity of Ahlul Bayt (AS), and that they were Islam incarnate.

2.The Verse of Malediction (Mubahalah):

“…come let us call our sons and your sons and our women and your women and our near people and your near people,…”
Holy Qur’an (3:61)

The exegetes, in explaining the cause of the revelation of this verse known as the verse of al-Mubahalah (malediction), say that the Christians of Najran agreed with the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) to pray to Allah to kill the parry which espoused falsehood. The Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) went out accompanied only by his family; Fatimah, Imams Ali, Hasan and Husayn (AS) to the contest.

When the Christians saw the blessed faces which the Messenger (P.B.U.H) had brought with him to pray to Allah for death on the liars, they backed out offering some excuse. They yielded to his authority and paid him the jizyah (a tax paid by the non-Muslims who live in the Islamic state).

As we can see, the holy verse calls Imams Hasan and Husayn (AS) “our sons”, and the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) and Imam Ali (AS) “ourselves”, while Her Holiness Fatimah Al-Zahra (AS) represented the women of all the Muslims, as she is called “our women”. It is a frank, and incontrovertible proof of the great stature of Ahlul Bayt in the eyes of Allah and His Messenger (P.B.U.H).

3.The verse of Affection (Mawaddah):

“…Say: I do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my near relatives…”
Holy Qur’an (42:23)

Exegetes say that this ayah called al-Muwaddah (love) was revealed concerning Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn (AS). The two sahihs (authentic books of hadith), Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal (Book of Hadith with complete chains of transmission), the Qur’anic exegesis of al-Tha’labi, and the Qur’anic exegesis of bin Abbas quotes bin Abbas as saying:

“When the verse ‘…say: I do not ask of you any reward for it…’ was revealed, they (the Muslims) asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah! who are your relations whom you ordered us to love?’ ‘Ali,’ he replied, ‘Fatimah, and her two sons.'” [6]

If we confine ourselves to these few verses, the lofty position in the eyes of Allah, of Imam Hasan (AS), the grandson of the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H), and all of Ahlul Bayt, becomes clear. We deem it useful to cite some other texts, however, conveyed from the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) about Imam Hasan (AS), and his high status in the world of Islam, and in the sight of the leading Prophet (P.B.U.H):

1.Al-Bukhari and Muslim report on the authority of al Bara’, that be said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) carrying Hasan bin Ali (AS) on his shoulder. He was saying: ‘O Lord! I love him, so love him.'”

3.Al Hafid Abu-Na’im reports on the authority of Abu Bakr, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) was leading us in prayer. Hasan, who was still a child, would come to him while he was in prostration, and sit on his back or sometimes on his neck. The Prophet (P.B.U.H) would lift him tenderly.

When the prayer was finished, they (the Muslims) asked him: ‘O Messenger of Allah! You are doing to this boy what you do not do to another person?’ ‘He is my basil,’ he replied.”

4.Anas bin Malik said: “The Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) was asked: ‘Who is most loved by you from among your family?’ ‘Hasan and Husayn’, he answered.”

5.A’ishah reports that “the Prophet would pick up Hasan and embrace him and say: ‘O Lord! This is my son, and I love him. Love him, and love who loves him.'”

6.Jabir bin Abdullah says: “The Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) said: ‘He who pleases to look at the Lord of the Youths of Paradise, let him look at Hasan bin Ali.'”

7.Ya’la bin Murrah says: “We went with the Prophet (P.B.U.H) to a feast, to which we were invited. We ran into Hasan (AS) who was playing near the road. The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) went ahead of the people hurriedly, and put out his hand to the boy. Then he pretended to pass by Hasan one time on his right hand, and another time on his left hand, to make the boy laugh. Then he approached him. He put one hand on his neck and the other on his head. Presently he embraced and kissed him. Then he said: ‘Hasan is from me and I am from him. Allah loves whoever loves him.'”

8.Al-Ghazali in his book, Al-Ihya’ (Revival), reports that the Prophet (P.B.U.H) had said to Hasan: “You resemble me in my appearance and disposition.” [8]

This is only a small number of the narratives about Imam Hasan (AS). He who wants more should refer to: Yanabee al-Muwaddah (Springs of Love), by al-Qandoozi al-Hanafi, Fada’il al-Khamasah min al-Sihah al-Sittah (Outstanding Merits of the Five Persons from the Six Authentic Books of Hadith), by al-Firoozabadi, Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Tadhkirat al-Khawas (Reminder of the Pious), by Sibt Bin al-Jawzi, etc.

Through the Holy Qur’an, the Prophet’s sunnah, and the many books of authentic ahadith, the exalted

position of the Prophet’s beloved grandson, Imam Hasan, becomes undeniable.

Notes :

[5] This tradition was reported by Muslim in his Sahih (Authentic Book of Tradition), al-Tirmidthi in his Sahih, al-Nisa’I in al-Khasa’is (Characteristics), al-Tabari in his Qur’anic exegesis, and others, Sahih Muslim mentions it in the 4th volume, No. 2424, through A’ishah, in a slightly different wording. For more details, refer to: al-Firoozabadi, Fadha’il al-Khamsah fi al-Sihah al-Sittah (Outstanding Merits of the Five in the Six Sahihs).
[6] Dhakhar’ir al-Uqba, p.25.
[7] Ibid., p.28
[8] We chose these authentic traditions from: Bin al-Sabbagh al-Maliki, Al-Fusool al-Muhimmah (Important Chapters), Tawfeeq Abu-Alam, I’lam al-Wara (Informing humankind), al-Tabarsi, Ahlul Bayt, and Sayy’id Muhsin al-Ameen al-Amili, al-Majalis al-Saniyyah. They were reported in many books other than these.

*******Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS): Divinely-Decreed Leader

“The ruin of people lies in three things: arrogance, greed and envy. It was due to arrogance that Satan deprived himself of God’s mercy. It was greed that caused Adam to be expelled from the Garden. It was envy the source of evil that made Cain kill his brother Abel.”
The above statement is part of the aphorisms bequeathed to humanity by the person in whose blessed birthday we are basking today on the 15th of fasting Ramadhan. It was no ordinary birth since it brought to earth, to the abode of Divine Revelation to be precise, celestial beings, especially Archangel Gabriel with felicitations from the Almighty Himself.

Even the name of the newborn was chosen in the heavens for he, along with his younger brother, was destined to be the Leader of the Youths of Paradise. As a matter of fact, his name “Hasan”, which means “Excellent” in Arabic was the equivalent of Shabar, the firstborn of Aaron. No wonder Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) had said regarding his father:

“O’ Ali! Your position to me is that of Aaron to Moses.”
It is thus clear that he was a born leader. An undeniable testimony in this regard is the saying of his grandfather the Prophet:

Over seven years in age at the time of the passing away of the Prophet – who on many an occasion had made it clear to the ummah the virtues of his Ahl al-Bayt including Imam Hasan (AS) – he played a pivotal role in the armed encounters that were imposed on his father, Imam Ali (AS) during the four-and-a-half years of the ideal rule of social justice. His valour on the battlefield earned laurels.

Following the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS), he was acknowledged by the masses as the caliph, and though like his father he had no attachment to worldly rule, never for a moment was he heedless of the people’s needs. However, when he found that the satanic stratagem of the archenemy of the Prophet’s Household, Mua’wiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, whose pillaging of Muslim life and property coupled with a deceptive campaign for peace, had weakened the faith of the Iraqis and made them lose the stomach to fight the deviationists, he decided to relinquish the caliphate, but on certain conditions in order to expose falsehood in its true colours.

It was a masterstroke of peace that ripped off the veil of hypocrisy from the face of the Omayyad heathens. In his greed for the caliphate the avaricious Mua’wiyah agreed to the terms of the treaty and soon, to the horror of the deceived Iraqis, breached each and every of its clauses. The ingrates had learned it the hard way not to trust the occupiers and the enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt.

As for Imam Hasan (AS), he retired with his family to his hometown Medina, from where the 2nd infallible heir of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) continued the path of his father and grandfather in enlightening Muslims and strengthening their conscience to discern righteousness from falsehood.

In a display of generosity that no worldly rulers could match, at least twice in his lifetime, Imam Hasan (AS) distributed all his possessions among the needy. Martyred through poisoning at the age of 47 years by Mua’wiyah, he continues to wield his God-given authority over the true believers, who flock to the Baqie Cemetery, despite its dilapidated status, to pay homage to him and other members of the Prophet’s Household much to the chagrin of the enemies of humanity.

Here are two more aphorisms from the Imam Hasan (AS) that certainly provide food for thought:

“I wonder at those who think of food for their body but ignore the food for their soul.”
“Impart your knowledge to others and acquire knowledge from others in order to awaken your conscience and learn what you do not know.”